Radio War Nerd EP 552 — Operation Barbarossa, Pt. 1: German Dreams, feat. Annibale

What this episode covers

Guest: AnnibaleRecorded: October 1, 2025 While the War Nerd recovers on IR, we begin our series on the largest military offensive in history, Operation Barbarossa, Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941. And who better to lead us through the slaughter than RWN special correspondent Annibale. In this episode, Annibale gives the background to Germany's invasion plans and military mindset, and he dispels commonly held postwar myths that places all the blame for Barbarossa on one speedballing madman, Adolf Eetler. More Annibale series on WW2:-Italy on the Eastern Front in WW2 (EP #226)-Operation Bagration (EP #453)-Battle of Kursk (EP #436) Reading list:-David Stahel — Operation Barbarossa and Germany’s Defeat in the East — 2009 — Cambridge University Press.-David M. Glantz & Jonathan M. House — When Titans Clashed: How the Red Army Stopped Hitler (revised edition) — 2015 — University Press of Kansas-John Erickson — The Road to Stalingrad: Stalin’s War with Germany, Vol. I — 1975 — Yale University Press-Evan Mawdsley — Thunder in the East: The Nazi–Soviet War 1941–1945 — 2005 — Hodder Arnold.-Rolf-Dieter Müller & Gerd R. Ueberschär — Hitler’s War in the East, 1941–1945: A Critical Assessment — 2002 — Berghahn Books. Total time: 1:33:27Direct link to this episode's mp3 here * Subscribe to Radio War Nerd at patreon.com/radiowarnerd Sound production by Telescope Audio Order your print or ebook of John Dolan's new book Erdogan Pizza: Dispatches from a Violent & Grotesque World